The Opelousas courier., 1887-07-23
TURKISH WOMEN.
The Life Led By Oriental
Wives and Maids.
Devoid of Oonjugal or Maternal Affections,
But Vain and Fond Of Eating.

The Turkish woman, says Emile JUL.
lard in the Cosmopolitan, is neither
sentimental nor corrupt, neither passion
ate nor cold, neither good nor wicked
but she is a gourmand. She is fond Of
sugar-plums, comftures, sherbet, and
especially tobacco, which she rolls into
slender cigarettes, and the smoke Of
which she swallows with delight. She
is inquisitlvc, indiscreet, greedy fol
things that glitter-rings, necklaces,
bracelets, and beads. She is vain but
not coqucttish. Indeed, of what use
would coquctry be to her? From the
age of thirteen OR fourteen she belongs
to a husband, who is her master, OF
rather her owner, whom she obeys pas
sively, whom she fears but does not
love.
Coniugal friendship and love are two
sentiments almost unknown to Turkish
women, which makes me believe that
they are rather the product of education
and association than of instinct. Nh.
| ternal love. which is the most tenacious,
the most spontaneous, the most sublime
of all terrestrial love, seems to be extincs
in the hearts of many Turkish mothers,
for they do not scruple to leave their
children to die the moment they see the
light of day. This is one of the causes,
but it is not the only one, of the rapid
diminution of the Turkish race.
Formerly, Turkish women were for
hidden to receive medical attendance,
even if they were at the gates of death.
They were attended by midwives, who
fought the disease by means of incanta-
tons and mystic operations, rather than
by pharmaceutical remedies and medical
care. To-day, physicians, especially if
they are not young men, are admitted
without scruple to the bedside of sick
women; or more often they are usually
left alone with patients. Then, strange
to say, the women are only incensed
when they are obliged to uncover their
faces. "However," said a physician of
a seraglio to me, "when one of the two
is uncomfortable, it is always the physi-
cian."
It is quite useless for Turkish girls to
grow up, get married, and become
mothers of families; they always remain
children. They have impressions rather
than feelings; they are the subjects of
caprice, not wi |. During her long resi-
dence in Constantinople, Nine. Julliard
was often invited to the harems, and
even stayed some days in that of Gener-
al Dervish Pasha, the famous defender of
Batoum. The four wives and the ward
of the pasta behaved themselves toward
their guest like little school girls at play.
They smelt of her, touched her, felt of
the cloth of her clothes, smoothed her
hair, sat down on their knees, asked her
a thousand puerile questions, begged her
to ask the tchelebi (the mastery to give
them bon hons, sherbet, rings, and
other jewelry. If they showed them
selves very jealous of the pasta, this was
hardly because they wished TO obtain
his love and caresscs, but the presents
that he made to some rather than to
others, the cakes that he brought to this
one rather than to that one.
When he appeared among them, they
stopped their laughing and playing, and
went, as though ashamed, to sit on a
divan Or on a cushion, like school chill
dren caught in mischief. They often
INDUCED in quarrels among themselves,
which degenerated into fights, in which
teeth and fnger-nails did good service.
They dined together, sitting with their
legs crossed on mats around a copper
tray loaded with food, which emitted
an odor of tallow not very appetizing.
Sometimes the pasta ate with them, and
restrained by kindly corrections their
outbursts of gluttony. They thrust !,
their fingers into the dishes without
hesitation, then conveyed them to their
mouths, performing this backward and
forward movement with a regularity
that bespoke long practice. But in
to the order of the pasha,
they had a fork, spoon, and plate placed
before their guest, and they compelled
useless 'precaution by the way!-
to help herself before they began their
manual exercise of from dish to mouth
and from mouth ~ d;sh